Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker has been grabbing all the headlines even before it was released. Now not only it has turned into a global success commercially, but the award season is also loving the clown prince of crime.
Of course, for the superhero movie-going audience, the role was first immortalised by the late Heath Ledger in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight in 2008. Ledger’s portrayal of the character had won him an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and a SAG Award among other things.
Well, on Sunday, Phoenix received a SAG for best performance by a male actor in a lead role. With his win, Phoenix, an Oscar nominee, is on the way to collecting the same trio of awards for the role.
And Phoenix acknowledged that with a shoutout to Heath Ledger.
Really, I’m standing here on the shoulders of my favourite actor, Heath Ledger.
Ledger had died in 2008 from an accidental overdose at the age of 28. Phoenix also took a moment to acknowledge all his fellow nominees in the category.
